Ecological agriculture and rural revitalization: toward a post-productivist countryside in Nanjing, China

Abstract

The Chinese central government has launched the Rural Revitalization plan as a basic state policy. This has led to the growth of ecological agriculture (EA) in rural China as an approach to achieve rural development. However, whether transitions to EA can facilitate rural reinvigoration is controversial both in China and in other countries. These rural transformations are of interest to scholars, policy makers, and the public. Drawing on the theoretical framings of post-productivism, this study focuses on two villages in Nanjing and their transitions to EA, one that embarks on green agritourism and one that cooperates in organic rice production. The finding is that EA has shifted full-scale transitions away from dominant productivism to different post-productivist ends, i.e., a consumption version of the post-productivist countryside and an agriculture-revitalized version of the post-productivist countryside. This study stresses the significance of using post-productivism to characterize heterogeneous rural changes but warns of the indiscriminate match of post-productivism to resolutions for rural dilemmas. Empirical findings suggest that spatial accommodations to the farming culture and peasant lifestyle are important for retaining a vigorous rural community. A major insight is that a sociospatial lens is necessary to refine the conceptualization of post-productivism and to understand the depth of rural sustainability transitions. This study argues that greater rural revitalization can be achieved only if more nuanced socio-cultural adaptations to spatial restructuring are considered.